Nearly half? Why not double half?
Old Orchard Beach gonna be empty this July lol
Makes me wish that I had a US trip planned so I could cancel it.
I’m American and instead of going on vacation somewhere in the US this year, we are instead going to British Colombia.
We are still planning, but if anyone has any good suggestions of activities for a family with kids under 10 of things to do on Vancouver island, please let me know!
P.s Sorry our country sucks right now.
Here are some suggestions with a kids lens:
Vancouver Island
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get mid Island then over to the west coast
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Parksville - large sandy beaches to dig in
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ferry to Denman Island and then to Hornsby Island - fossils! https://hornbynaturalhistory.com/category/fossils/
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Qualicum Beach - gravelly and lots of seniors, but a great place to see bald eagles picking up clams and oysters, dropping them to break them open and diving to eat.
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Cathedral grove on Hwy to Port Alberni, accessible old growth forest
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Alberni - old forestry interpretation site with a logging train in the Cherry Creek area
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Drive to Tofino - an adventure in itself
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Long Beach
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whale watching
If you go to Vancouver, many of the classic stops are worth it
- the Aquarium
- Whale watching
- Grouse mountain gondola and mountain top
- Capilano suspension bridge and the fish hatchery and environs
- Seabus
- UBC museum of anthropology
Wow this is amazing informative and detailed. Thanks for taking the time to write this list out. We looked at parksville (I remember as a really young kid staying at tigh na mara and loved the beach. Glad to see it’s still a recommended area. Thanks again!
Parksville is likely far more commercial and developed than you recall.
But the beaches remain.
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Butchart gardens
Royal museum of British Columbia
Legislative Assembly buildings
Walk around the downtown/waterfront area
Chinatown (Victoria has the oldest one in Canada)
Hatley Castle (x men was filmed here)
Craigdarroch castle (it’s more a large Victorian mansion but still cool)
Beacon Hill park (don’t run over the peacocks in the street - seriously - they’re a traffic hazard)
There are lovely beaches in the northern parts of the island and Sunshine coast.
Grouse Mountain (in Vancouver)?!
Granted, I was there a decade or so ago, but you can just take a bus to the trailhead/cable car lower station and then take the cable car up there or just walk the trail up (not hard) and then take the cable car down.
Granted, it’s mainly interesting for people who like Nature.
Also, take the boat to cross the river.
This is great! Some of this is stuff I hadn’t researched yet, so it’s going on my lists. Thank you!
Spinnaker’s is a nice restaurant/pub in Vic. Courtenay/Comox area has lots of beautiful nature hikes, well honestly anywhere up &down the coast!
Check out some smaller islands off the main island. Lots of little artistic communities. Don’t just hit the big spots. Comox Valley is beautiful There are some old growth cedar walks off the coast in tofino (careful Tofino is as expensive as you can imagine) that are amazing (of you can’t manage the boat ride check out cathedral Grove near Port Alberni). Campbell River is a quaint town with great fishing, BC is full of forestry roads with great little remote campsites (on any given day you can have a lake all to yourself in many places if you just ask around town), surfing is pretty big on the island take a lesson or rent some gear, super fun for everyone. The Northern part of the island is not to be forgotten. The people are amazing and though the terrain can be harsh it is amazingly beautiful and remote.
Amazing. Thanks! These look like some great areas to explore. Added them to my research list.
I spent a lot of time on the island being a surf bum and driving around to beautiful places. If you need anymore pointers or have questions feel free to ask.
Welcome to Victoria
Spend lots of money drink lots of shafts
Good, and I’m following suit. Just cancelled a trip I had planned to Boston this September. I’m not spending a dollar more than I have to on the shithole that has become the US.
with tHE Faa being gutted by musk, its not even safe to fly down there.
Massachusetts is a strong Blue State.
Fact: Money spent in Blue States still props the American economy
We should call them Qubecois.
“Quebecers” is absolutely the worst demonym I’ve ever had the misfortune of hearing.
I’d honestly rather use “Quebecans” or “Quebecinites” than “Quebecers”. That being said, I’m francophone so I just say “québécois et québécoises”.
C’est vrai, quebecers always sounds wrong to me for some reason. Québécois is the original, so idk I think it should just be québécois in English without any translations
Quebeccies it is
The word Québécois in English I think signifies more the ethnic group, than all Quebeckers (ppl who live in Quebec, Québécois or otherwise).
In French, it’s ambiguous.
In Ontario I’ve generally heard and used “Québécois” and don’t really hear Quebecers often. Weird that the Montréal CityNews outlet is using Quebecers of all places.
In my mind Québécois is a sign of respect, while Quebecers is dismissive, and I can’t explain why I think that way.
I’m from Montreal originally. We call ourselves Quebecers.
I live in the mtl suburbs and I very rarely hear quebecers. Even Anglo people say québécois
That’s good, but we need to get that percentage higher. Let’s shoot for 90% or better. Make America tourism hurt.
Come the 4th, and expect stuff to change.
Or support Mexican tourism for warm destinations, the enemy of our enemy is our friend.
Us Québécois love going to Cuba, we’ve been vacationing there for ever! It’s amazing, not a single American in sight!
Just went to Cancún, so many québécois! It’s a direct flight from YUL. Not that many Americans in some areas.
Still more Americans than Havana, also a direct flight from YUL ;)
Went in January and Cancun was crawling with shity Americans I won’t be back ever.
It’s worth going to that area and seeing other stuff. Cancún is not a great place, but there are lots of cool things in the area
Yeah I vacationed in Playa Del Carmen, not Cancún itself.
Beautiful beaches, food sucks though. Mexico is better!
Oh I think the dirt cheap, plentiful, delicious food is what I’ll miss the most in Mexico.
The people are also genuinely wonderful (at least in Cancún / Playa Del Carmen), I’ve heard the opposite for the Dominican Republic. Don’t know about Cuba.
Yes. Food is not great in Cuba. Unless you stay with a local and have the amazing fresh fruit for breakfast. And the coffee / dairy is amazing!
I keep hearing this, but man was it not my experience. I may have just been unlucky, or maybe it was just our specific resort, but the food we ate on the resort was extremely disappointing. The best meal I ate whole week was a random lunch I ate in a disposable plate (the cochinita pibil was out of this world) before leaving Tulum. Meanwhile most food in Cuba was perfectly fine. On average not the best I ate in my life, but nothing terrible.
I think a big thing should be support Canada, instead of bringing your money elsewhere keep it in Canada. We are going to have some bumpy times of us.
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Supporting Canada exclusively for winter beach vacations is not reasonable, a lot of people want to take a break from winter somewhere warm. This used to be Florida / California, let’s start going to Latin America and Europe instead.
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We have to be careful with this mentality, isolationism is the exact kind of mentality we are accusing the US of. Let’s keep supporting friendly nations to show the US we have other friends to play with.
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half floridas tourism comes from canada and other countries.
Canada is such a lovely place to tour! And if you’re Canadian you probably already have the appropriate clothing! In such a large and diverse country you can certainly find an experience different from your daily.
The problem is it’s fucking expensive. We went to Halifax this summer and had a great time, but we could have easily paid for a week in an all inclusive in Mexico for a similar price for 5 days in Halifax.
That being said, we’re taking the train to Montreal for March break. Way simpler and less stressy than an international trip, but not cheaper.
Halifax is a great town! Although Mexico is ok too. It’s the US we should try to avoid.
Yeah, indeed. On the other hand I’m also painfully aware that the reason it’s so cheap for me over there is that I’m the richer guy in a poorer country… 😬
Only half?
It’s pretty significant when you think about it, what really surprised me was that the entirety of Quebec had flights planned to the US.
Maybe the other half are locked in, won’t get a decent refund for canceling.
tabernac!
Maybe the other 25% are locked in and the other 25% do not have the money to even think about a trip elsewhere.
We are a terrorist nation. This is a good call. Stay safe and stay far away from this place.
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Good call. This place is an embarrassment.
